Riccardo Befi, of the GIA Laboratory in New York, submitted the following entry to the Gems & Gemology (G&G) Lab Notes section.
Two interesting samples resembling trapiche emerald were recently brought to our attention by gem dealer Farooq Hashmi (Intimate Gems, Jamaica, New York). They had been cut from the same “crystal,” which closely resembled a natural trapiche emerald. The “crystal” was obtained on a mid-2010 trip to Colombia from a seller who was not initially aware he had acquired an imitation.

This brings yet another stone to keep an eye on! I was starting to suspect something with the sudden influx of these Trapiche Emeralds on TV Networks, Ebay, and the usual outlets that these scams typically fester and perpetrate in and then spread out from there. When a once fairly rare and expensive phenomena stone starts showing up in large amounts and on Ebay auctions for .99 starting prices with lots of them being offered and heavily discounted on TV shows, it is typically a very good flag that should set off the tingles of your spidey senses as to something being awry!
I know not everyone has a RAMAN, lol, to check them, but a good Microscopic examination, with and without immersion, and with a UV light should, most likely, reveal most of the adhesives, polymers, resins, and glues being used (but of course not all of them are UV reactive, sadly). So look at ANY Trapiche stones extra careful now, because if they are doing it with emeralds I am sure they are doing it with other stones as well!

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